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The requirements for racing car aerodynamics are far more extensive and demanding than those for passenger cars. Since many of the relevant aerodynamic features cannot be measured easily, if at all, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) provides a detailed insight into the flow phenomena and helps in understanding the underlying physics. This paper summarizes some aspects of the aerodynamic optimization process for the Opel Calibra ITC racing car, starting from the production car design and including exterior and interior aerodynamic computations, together with wind tunnel experiments.

Modern development in the automotive industry is strongly effected by fast turnaround times due to shorter development cycles for every new product. This leads to a reduction of more and more prototypes. Under these challenging circumstances traditional, hardware based development approaches often reach their limits. Together with new CAE tools the lack of resources and information can be faced. This paper will describe how CFD simulation (Computational Fluid Dynamics) cooperates with traditional wind tunnel tests to reduce cost and provide even more valuable information. The efficient combination of both tools is the key for best aerodynamic optimized vehicles. In CFD the external aerodynamics of a certain styling (aerodynamic coefficients, flow field visualization) is generated even before any hardware prototypes are available. This allows the development engineer to rank different styling studies and a pre-optimization of selected themes prior to wind tunnel testing.

This paper describes the design process of a complete HVAC module using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). CFD gives a detailed insight on the flow characteristics of HVAC components even in early design stages. Due to a close coupling with CAD/CAE systems the number of prototypes, costs, and development time can be reduced. Optimised air duct designs lead to reduced pressure losses, and turbulence levels, that consequently decrease flow induced noise. Simultaneously the air distribution of the duct outlets is uniformed. Thermal analysis gives information about the heat transfer and hot/cold air mixing process inside the HVAC module.